Irish Century S.
1 primary work • 3 total works
Book 4
In 1972, Morgan Llywelyn tells the story of Ireland from 1950 to 1972 as seen through the eyes of young Barry Halloran, son and grandson of Irish revolutionaries. Following family tradition, at eighteen Barry joins the Irish Republican Army to help complete what he sees as the unfinished revolution. Issues are no longer as clear-cut as they once were. His first experience of violence in Northern Ireland shocks and disturbs him, yet he has found a sense of family in the Army that is hard to give up. He makes a partial break by becoming a photographer, visually documenting events in the north rather than participating. Events lead Barry into a totally different life from the one he expected, yet his allegiance to the ideal of a thirty-two-county Irish republic remains undimmed as the problems, and the violence, of Northern Ireland escalate. Then Barry finds himself in the middle of the most horrific event of all: Bloody Sunday in Derry, 1972.
The struggle of the Irish people for independence is one of the epic tales of the 20th century. Morgan Llywelyn has chosen it as the subject of her major work, a multi-novel chronicle that began with 1916 and now continues in 1921. 1921 is the year of the Irish Civil War and the year of the separation of Ireland into two nations, south and north. 1921 is told by Henry Mooney, a journalist (based on the author's grandfather), who struggles for truth in his reporting and falls in love with an Englishwoman in Ireland in the midst of political and military horrors.
The "Irish Century" series is the story of the Irish people's epic struggle for independence through the tumultuous course of the twentieth century. Morgan Llywelyn's magisterial multi-novel chronicle of that story began with "1916", which was followed by "1921", "1949", and "1972". It now concludes with "1999: A Novel of the Celtic Tiger and the Search for Peace". "1999" brings the story from "1972" to the disarmament talks and beginnings of reconciliation among the Irish at the end of the twentieth century. Barry Halloran, strong, clever, and passionately patriotic, who was the central character of "1972", remains central. Now a crippled photojournalist, he marries his beloved Barbara Kavanaugh, and steps back from the armed struggle. Through his work he documents the historic events that take us from the horrific aftermath of Bloody Sunday through the decades of The Troubles to the present. This is a noble conclusion to an historical mega-novel that will be read for years.